Is Your Status Quo Killing Your Business?

The more things change, the more they stay the same -- especially
in business. And that’s the problem, according to global business
consultant, Rebel Brown.

“As much as we all acknowledge how the world has changed over the
last two decades, businesses and corporations tend to continue
doing things the same way they’ve always done them,” said Brown,
a consultant who has worked with companies as diverse as Silicon
Graphics, NeXT and Verity, as well as startups in the U.S. and
abroad.

“I can’t count the number of times executives have told me,
‘Well, that’s the way we’ve always done it.’ The truth is that
most companies talk about change far more than they actually
engage in it. That’s because they are afraid of making any change
out of fear – of Big Bang disruption, of the wrong change or of
leaving the safety and comfort of the known. We’re stuck in the
way we’ve always done it-- and that’s a big reason why our
economy is stuck in neutral.”

Brown, author of Defy
Gravity, believes that the key to evolving and prospering is
to not only challenge some of our most basic business
assumptions, but, in some cases, to reject them outright. Brown
has proven through her past client engagements that businesses
that let go of the status quo will begin to rise above their
competition, defying gravity in a sense. In order to start that
process, Brown wants executives to start questioning some of the
most common sacred cows of business, including:

It’s Our Best and Biggest Seller -- Sometimes
clinging to the cash cow can lead to a complacency that
prevents new companies from staying in sync with what the
market needs. Instead, these companies become slavish to the
needs of one client, and ignore the changes in the marketplace.
What’s worse is that the big seller may represent strong
revenue, but all the extra attention this client commands may
actually mean that it’s big only in revenue, but not in
profits. What’s worse is that your company may end up
completely incapable of surviving if that big seller stops
selling, because myopia has prevented them from evolving to
meet the changing needs of their customers.

They’re Our Biggest Customer -- Are they?
Sometimes our best customer commands more attention than the
rest, which cuts into the actual profitability of that
customer. It may also take our attention away from other
customers who could account for as much profit, if the time and
effort were taken to help those relationships grow. Moreover,
focusing on a very select set of big customers makes us myopic
to the changes in our industries, often preventing us from
capitalizing on other opportunities for growth and expansion.

It’s a Huge Opportunity -- The big deal, the
dream client, the huge order -- all things that businesses
strive for -- may not wind up being that profitable in the long
run. We’ll discount, deal, sacrifice strategy, dedicate extra
resources and throw out the baby, the bathwater and the tub to
get those deals. And once we have them, we celebrate and take
our victory lap, but what have we really won? We rationalize
that we’ll make up whatever we spent to get the deal over the
lifetime of the contract. We justify the extra effort by
thinking if we can get this big domino to fall, other big ones
will follow. But the reality is that those plans aren’t always
sure things. Remember, huge opportunities aren’t always
inherently opportunities for success. They can be opportunities
for failure, as well.

“Let’s face it -- two years ago, we never expected the emergence
of social media as a way to communicate with and market to our
customers and prospects,” Brown added. “And five years ago, many
didn’t expect the web would become the major revenue driver it’s
become. So, if the world around us is changing so dramatically,
so quickly, why do we cling to the oldest ideas in business? If
we truly want to defy gravity, we must first untie the tethers
that bind us to old assumptions. We can use our innate human
abilities to learn to think differently about our businesses by
listening to our markets and shifting our perspectives – from
Gravity to Growth.”

Rebel Brown helps companies
define their strategies, plan their courses, motivate their
organizations and deliver profitable and sustainable growth. She
has worked with more than 100 global clients – from larger
companies and smaller, more entrepreneurial concerns -- in
startup, growth and turnaround situations. She is the author of
Defy
Gravity.